Secret Santa
by ninjasandbacon
Summary: “I love you, Dan. I really do. I just can't keep pretending I'm single anymore. I can't keep watching you let guys hit on me, I want you to fight for me.” She said, her voice low and hoarse, eyes brimming with tears.


"As you know, each year every boy in the senior class draws a name of a girl in Constance's senior class and for a week, that boy has to give the girl presents. He is her secret Santa."

Nate raised his hand, eyebrows knitted together. "I thought this was English."

"It is Mr Archibald. Which means at the end of this project, you will write a report telling what you learned."

Over half the class groaned as Mr. Jeishen started walked around, holding out a fishbowl full of the girls' names.

Dan plucked his pink paper from the fishbowl, unfolding it. He was interrupted as Nate turned around and pounded his paper on Dan's desk. "Hey man. Who'd you get? I got Blair freakin' Waldorf."

"Don't you hate her?" Dan stared at his paper, smiling a little as Nate's head collided with his desk with a loud 'thunk'. "Serena van der Woodsen."

"You lucky bastard. She's the hot blonde that'll go for anything."

"Really? She doesn't seem like she would."

"Do you even go to school here, man?" Nate laughed as he turned around.

"Now that you have your partners, I want you to come up here and show me who you have so I can give you the papers that list the things they like."

Dan walked over to Mr. Jeishen and showed him the paper. He quickly filed through over a hundred sheets of identical white paper and handed one to him.

He returned to his seat, poring over the paper intently. Her bubbly hand writing brought images of her, biting her her lip as she sat on his bed, furiously crossing out words she had spelled wrong.

"Dude, there is no fucking way I am going to fucking La Perla and getting whatever the hell this is for Blair." Nate growled, slamming his paper down on Dan's desk, pointing at something written in neat handwriting on the sheet and breaking apart Dan's memory.

"You can get her the other stuff you know." Dan muttered, slipping Serena's paper in his pocket as the bell rang, signaling their release to lunch.

"Sure whatever. Hey, are you gonna be at lunch today? Or are you disappearing again?"

"Nate, I don't disappear. I just go somewhere."

"Yeah, thats very convincing. Whatever man, I'll see you in soccer." Nate clapped Dan on the back and made his way to lunch as Dan swiftly made his way to the old staircase, taking two steps at a time.

"Hey!" He was tackled the moment he stepped foot into the rooftop garden. "I missed you."

"Serena," He breathed, hugging her back tightly. "I missed you too." He dropped a kiss on her lips, running his hands through her hair.

"Dan, I don't think we can do this anymore." She whispered into his ear, causing his body to stiffen.

"Wait, what?"

"I just don't think I can keep us a secret anymore." She looked at him, green eyes pleading. "I want people to know about us. I'm tired of sneaking around."

"Baby, look I don't want to sneak around either okay? But you're Serena van der Woodsen and I'm just Dan Humphrey. We have to. You said so yourself." He took her hand, lacing their fingers together.

"I don't care about everyone else Dan!" She jerked away from him. "Not anymore. Not when I have you."

Dan shook his head, his smile already gone from his face. "I'm not good enough for you Serena. I never will be."

"You're more than good enough for me. Have you not noticed that I never drink anymore? That I never do anything stupid? I spend as much time at your place with you Dan and its because I love you. You're the one for me, Dan. I want you to be my first."

"No, I want your first time to be special." He murmured, catching a lock of hair that the wind had blown and tucked it behind her ear. "I don't want you to be like me, and lose it to someone that you won't even remember."

"Dan, we're forever." She undid a few buttons on her blouse and pulled out a silver chain and hanging from it was a silver ring. "Remember?" She asked softly, as he put his hand on it, giving her goosebumps as his fingers brushed against her collarbone.

"_This ring is a symbol of my dedication, love, and our time together_." He whispered, repeating the words he had spoken a month ago. "_I will never let you go, Serena. You're my forever._"

"If you love me, you'll do this for me, Dan. You'll do this for _us_."

He leaned in and kissed her, silencing her. He broke the kiss gently, one hand on her cheek. "I promise you, I will tell everyone on Friday, during the secret Santa thing, okay?"

"Thank you." She leaned against him, buttoning her shirt again.

"You know you don't have to do that." Dan laughed, kissing her forehead.

"So you want me to freeze to death on the roof?"

"Its not _that _cold."

"Dan, its December."

He laughed, kissing her nose. "You're so damn adorable."

"You know you love me."

"Yes I do." Dan chuckled, running his hands up and down her sides. "You know, we only have like ten minutes of lunch left, we need to get some food into you."

"I'm not hungry."

"Liar." He reached into his messenger bag and pulled out a bag of strawberries, a bottle of juice and a ham and cheese sandwich. "Eat." He ordered, putting them on the bench.

"I'm not hungry." She muttered again, but nonetheless picking up the sandwich and biting into it.

--

The next day, Dan stepped into the girls hall, holding his present for Serena. He made his way to her wooden locker without anyone noticing and opened it quickly, sticking the gift in there.

"Dan, my man!" Nate walked towards him, carrying a bag from La Perla. "Dude, I gave in and bought that thing. What'd you get Serena?"

"Something, none of your business, oh by the way Nate. You might want to hurry, I heard that Blair gets to school early."

"Alright, man. See you later." Nate shuffled off, leaving Dan leaning in front of Serena's locker.

"Well I knew it was secret Santa week, but I didn't know I would get Dan Humphrey."

Dan smiled, turning around. "Hey."

"Hey." She smiled, giving him a quick peck.

"So what did Lonely Boy do to get this kind of greeting?" Dan laughed, sneaking a kiss onto her neck.

"Well you are publicly my boyfriend now, aren't you?"

"Friday," Dan said firmly, his brown eyes serious. "I said Friday."

Serena groaned, her blue eyes closing. "Dan.."

"I'm sorry, okay?" He retorted sharply, before sighing. "Look, I will do this for you alright? Just give me time. Please."

"Can we at least hang out instead of sneaking around? I want to spend more time with you."

Dan smiled, thankful for the empty hall. "Okay, today. Lunch. Wherever you want. With whoever you want."

"Thank you." She leaned in to kiss him once again, pressing him against the lockers. "I love you."

"I love you too." He smiled.

"Are you two dating?" Their heads flashed down the hall where Nate was standing, mouth agape.

"Nah, man. She's just..I got something in my eye, okay? I asked her to check it out." Dan said quickly, stepping away from Serena.

"Okay cool, cause you know it'd be weird if you two were..dating."

"It would?" Serena asked, opening her locker. "How so?"

"Well you're like you.." Nate pointed out, quickly slipping back into I'm-gonna-hit-on-every-girl-I-can mode. "And Dan here is like..Dan."

"Hey dude, soccer practice in like ten, let's get out of here." Dan clapped Nate on the back, practically pushing him out of the girls hall.

--

Dan headed the ball into the net, earning applause from the spectators in the stands. He jogged back to the bench, wiping his face with the bottom of his shirt.

"Hey handsome." He dropped his shirt and saw Serena standing there.

"Don't you have class?"

Serena rolled her eyes and held up a digital camera. "Photography. Someone doesn't look happy to see his girlfriend."

Dan stood up, picking up his Gatorade bottle as well. "Friday, darling. Three more days."

"I don't want to wait that long." Serena said, sighing as she took a picture of a soccer ball.

"I don't either. Oh hey, what'd you get for Secret Santa?"

Serena smiled and fished it out of her pocket. "I got this gorgeous bracelet I've wanted for ages. But funny thing is I didn't put it on the list. Do you know who got me? I think its Nate, he's been hanging around my locker."

"Nah, Nate has Blair. I don't know who has you."

"Well who in your class starts with a 'D'? There's one charm on there and its a 'D'."

"I don't know, I only really talk to Nate in that class. Listen I need to run drills alright? Do you want to come over later? Study?"

"Okay, I'll see you later." Serena leaned in to kiss him and frowned when he pulled back quickly. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing, its nothing." He ran a hand through his hair. "I'll see you later, bye." He ran off, leaving a very confused and somewhat angry Serena.

--

"Hey, you wanna tell me what was up with you earlier?" Serena asked, throwing her bag down on his bed with more force than necessary.

"I'm sorry." He got up from his bed and hugged her tightly. "I just..I said Friday and you're ready to take us public today. I just..I can't.."

Serena sighed, pulling back from him. "When you pulled back from me today, you have no idea how much that broke my heart, Dan. I want to be able to kiss you whenever I want, wherever I want. I don't care about anything else!"

"I know. I'm sorry." His head dropped and his shoulders slumped as he sat back on his bed.

"I can't be with you if you won't do this for us."

"What are you talking about?" He looked up at her, looking like a lost little boy. "Serena.."

"I love you, Dan. I really do. I just can't keep pretending I'm single anymore. I can't keep watching you let guys hit on me, I want you to fight for me." She said, her voice low and hoarse, eyes brimming with tears.

"I.."

She cut him off, shaking her head. "I'll see you around."

She exited his room, heart shattered and with tears running down her face.

--

It was Friday, the day the boys were supposed to reveal themselves. Dan ducked past a burly lineman, and searched for Serena. She had been ignoring him ever since that night. However she kept herself well entertained by flirting with a new boy each time he was in the girl's hall. She no longer wore her necklace with the ring on it around her neck anymore. It was just gone.

He entered the auditorium, flinching as he saw her giggling with another one of his classmates. He walked up to her and deftly pulled her away from him.

"What the hell are you doing?" She glared at him, arms crossed when he let her go.

"What does it look like?" He asked. "This is the secret Santa thing and I'm your person, okay?" He fumbled in his messenger bag for her present and thrust it at her. "Merry Christmas."

She glared at him for a moment longer before tearing apart the gift wrapping and finding a small jewelry box. Opening it, she gasped as she pulled out a small silver ring. "What is this?"

"Your promise ring." He said softly. "I heard it was missing."

She turned it and there she saw it. He had stolen it and engraved something on it. '_Daniel Humphrey. Serena van der Woodsen. Meant to be.'_

By the time she looked up, he had walked away, joining the other boys in line as they prepared to read their report.

She took a seat in the front row, fixing her eyes on Dan. Nate was up first, but she barely heard a word he said.

Finally Dan got up on the podium, smiling to himself a bit. "For my Secret Santa person, I got Serena van der Woodsen. Over the course of the week, I got her various presents, but I don't think any of them were what she really wanted. During this week, I learned that all she wanted was for her boyfriend to tell everyone about them. So here I am. My name is Daniel Humphrey and I am in love with Serena van der Woodsen, my girlfriend and the love of my life."

The entire crowd of girls silenced for a brief moment before bursting out in loud chatter. Dan made his way offstage, heading directly for Serena.

"I'm sorry." He whispered as she flung her arms around his neck. "I should have listened to you."

"Its okay." She half-laughed, half-sobbed.

"I love you." He whispered, arms tightening his grip on her waist.

"I love you too." She whispered, hands clutching his blazer tightly. "I'm sorry for ignoring you and flir-"

"Hey, its okay. It was my fault." He ignored the looks of all the girls as he leaned in and kissed her.

Laughing she broke the kiss briefly. "Daniel Humphrey, you are one of a kind."

"I hope you mean that in a good way." He laughed, brushing her nose with his. "Merry Christmas Serena. I hope you like your last present."


End file.
